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Friday, August 1, 2008

No amount of excitement over their new player (Ken Griffey Jr. in case you’ve been recently released from imprisonment under a rock) was enough to get our team to a win today. It’s been awhile since I saw a train wreck like this. Or… wait. No, it’s only been a couple of days. In another game sponsored by Murphy’s Law, the Twins win a game with a 10-6 lead, pushing the Sox back to their .5 game divisional lead.

John Danks was pitching. He was doing very well, and getting out of innings with minimal hits. He’d said before the game that it was important not to walk anyone here, so he knew what he had to do. Unfortunately, he and the other pitchers failed to take this advice giving up walks five for the night. The Sox were leading 4-0 until the Twins scored three runs at the merciless bat of Morneau. Danks followed with an easy sixth inning, but when he wasn’t pulled for Carrasco in the 7th (In fact, we didn’t see Carrasco at all today), the lead slipped to a deficit 7-4. It only took another disastrous inning and some questions about Boone Logan’s loyalty to the organization (as in, he was helping the other team, if you catch my drift) to bring the score to 10-6. Not to be the person that says, “if I was Ozzie…” But… If I was Ozzie, I would know to pull out my starters for fresh arms before there’s damage done. It didn’t help that the relievers weren’t having a great day. Everyone, but Wasserman that is.

And the batters weren’t much of a help, either. Swish, Ramirez, and Booger Fields had no hits. At least Swish had a walk. Quentin was really on his game today, getting two big hits (one of which scored on Jermayne Dye’s home run, the other started off the 8th, but to no avail) Pierzynski was doing better at bat, too, bringing 2 in on a single before getting caught in a run-down. Dewayne Wise, who was playing CF today, also was a victim of a run-down after stealing a base (And after getting kicked in the face while doing it). Stolen bases also came from Cabrera and Swish (Believe it or not, he has 6 for the year). Dye’s home run was his 25th of the year, and brought the score to a close 7-6. Jim Thome proved that, once again, if you see a lot of pitches (he saw about 11, I think), you are almost always guaranteed a home run or walk. And Uribe and Pierzynski picked up an error apiece just to put the cherry on top.

The Rivalries? Crede –v. Fields. This is becoming more of a joke than a competition. A silver sombrero is awarded to Booger for being the proud owner of 3 of the 12 K’s issued to the Sox today. Altogether, he has 4H, 2RBI, 2BB, 9Ks, and those 2Es. He’s not much of a third baseman (Uribe is far, far superior, and now that we’ve seen his performance on third base, aren’t well all glad we kept him?) and kind of a moron. In the 7th, with no one on, he showed bunt. My, don’t we think highly of our base-running? Luckily, Joe Crede is on his way to Charlotte right now for his rehab assignment and, in as little as four days, the voices in my head will stop arguing about wanting someone to succeed and fail so much at the same time. In possibly, the last game ever up for grabs for these two rivals, Anderson loses out to Wise. Williams says he won’t be sending Wise (or anyone else) back to Charlotte. Yes, we’re keeping our 6 outfielders.

Have we dwelled on these games long enough? Alright, then let’s move on to some lighter things in, possibly, the largest random nonsensical paragraph of notes I’ve ever written. First off, I was under the impression that Clay Richard was done with us, but he has another game in KC ahead. That’s great news, in my opinion. More from the Hawk and D.J.: “Talking about how Mauer grew an inch… for the love of JD, can we not be morons? When the news of Griffey broke out, Hawk was ‘sleeping beautifully, beautifully like a baby,’ while DJ was workin hard, hard in the gym… Won’t they stop talking about their man-crushes on Gomez? Good grief!” These geniuses also say AJ should be an actor. Well, I dunno about that, but I think he’d be a great manager. He is ruthless and I’m sure he’d whip those guys into shape, and he knows the game ‘cause he’s a catcher. Swish IS giving up 30 to be Dirty 1. He probably wants to have the 1 to let Konerko know, “hey I’m taking 1B.” No, he wouldn’t, but I bet that’s an awkward situation in the dugout. Once again having umpire problems. It’s fine when it’s to the Twins, but not to our guys! And last, to think that those last few innings could have been avoided if the Twins forfeited the game. Danks hit the batter, but AJ, being himself, said he had swung at it (or bunted, or what have you). The umpires agreed, and he wasn’t given a base. The Twins’ manager came out, got kicked out, threw his hat, and then the entire crowd followed, throwing their own hats, balls, and other random objects on the field. Ozzie came out, requesting to get the players off the team. The field was cleared, the players went back in the dugout, and the fans were warned that if they would not stop, the Twins would have to forfeit. If only they had…